Stéphane’s Posting for Sept. 23, 2011

Standing Guard!

Yesterday, soon after dawn, we spotted a Great Horned Owl perched n a Jack Pine on the basin shore, in full view! It is not unusual, especially at this time of year, to see the owl around, on one of its favourite perches, But usually it is a bit more concealed. This time, it was there for all to see, including some crows who made a raucous when they discovered it.

But the owl was totally unfazed. It was, in fact, supremely enjoying this spot as it didn’t move from it for more than 10 hours! It certainly was not asleep all the time, as we could see it move its head occasionally. But it stayed on this perched from around 7 AM to about 6 PM, when it finally decided it was time to go on. It’s a nocturnal bird, after all: days are for resting, which it certainly did!

Today, the first day of fall is greeted by low, grey clouds and rain. Quite appropriate! And after such a dry summer, the rain is actually welcome.

A proud member of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network

The Cabot Head Research Station is one of 25 bird migration monitoring stations across Canada. Providing baseline information on avian populations by sampling migrants, by capture or observation, daily during migration contributes to our knowledge about bird populations and movement.